An old photograph capturing the moment when 116 years ago revolutionaries Pere Tosev and Goce Delcev stood side by side has been safeguarded by the fourth generation of the Todorceski family in Prilep, Telegraf.mk reports.
The photo was taken in a studio in Prilep and it shows the two freedom fighters, together with Pere Tosev's cousin Stiljan, who is the unique testimony of the Todorceski's blood relation.
The picture is meticulously kept by 80-year-old Saso Todorceski, who found the courage to take the photo out of the dark and dusty cupboards of his home and show it to the public.
Saso can barely stand on his feet. He takes a hand-full of pills, but he spirit seems to light up when he gets the chance to browse through and talk about the boxes containing hundreds of old photographs, telling the memories of the four generations of his ancestors. His memory though is slowly fading away, but he still appears resilient to time.
He wants to transmit the family history, while he is holding tight to the yellowish image of Pere Tosev, as if someone would grab it away from him. Saso considers himself to be the unique witness of the family roots and the origin of the great revolutionary.
"For four generations, this picture has been kept in our family with the utmost care. My great-grandfather took care of it and hit it jealously and with pride, the vendor, Angele Todorce. When my grandfather Vasili and my father Ilija were on their deathbed they too wouldn't let go of the picture. I conveyed his vow to my family. Pere Tosev was the nephew of my grandmother Evgenija, and the photo was taken in Prilep, around 1900, before the Ilinden Uprising," Todorceski says, who also holds an MA degree from Belgrade.
Showing no signs of fatigue from his memories, but overwhelmed with the past, Saso tells stories of his parents and their parents. His sayings are full of past testimonies. The front door of his house bares the symbol of a six-pointed sun. He says the room of this old house, where he still lives, was once the venue of revolutionaries' meetings.
"Dame Gruev, Pere Tosev and Gjorce Petrov used to come here to meet, in the house with huge walls, fenced like a fortress, closed up with iron gates, so nobody would peek inside or out. Plans were concocted about attacks and activities, about defeating the Turkish troops, assassinations over Turkish dignitaries. A defense wall can't match the strength of the house. You can't enter inside without being unnoticed. It was secured with iron lids, while its windows had metal bars. A bird couldn't fly over, not to mention the enemy. My memories is the legacy I want to be preserved. I won't sell it even if I was offered millions. I asked the museum in Prilep to preserve it because it is a historical edifice," Todorceski explains.
He spends each day recalling the memories that give him strength. The hope that the history of his family four generations would prevail does not abandon him. His son lives and works in Skopje, but the old man strongly believes his descendants will return to their birthplace and continue the family line. He wants his successors to continue to tell the stories to their children and grandchildren, knowing the revolutionary blood of Pere Tosev flows in their veins.